


For Whom Do the Flowers Grow? (For You, My Dove)

by stingerpicnic (ibelieveinfiction)



Series: have i told you that I love you? a thousand times in a thousand ways (Snufmin Week 2019) [1]
Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime 1990)
Genre: First Kiss, Flower Crowns, Flowers, Love Confessions, M/M, Snufmin Week 2019, Snusmumriken | Snufkin Has Paws and a Tail, au where Snufkin is a spring spirit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 04:23:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19165750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibelieveinfiction/pseuds/stingerpicnic
Summary: Snufkin does something a little foolish on his winter travels. He thinks he might be able to forgive himself though. Especially when it gets results like this.





	For Whom Do the Flowers Grow? (For You, My Dove)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kittyorange](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittyorange/gifts).



> Credit to [@candycorncartooncat on tumblr](https://candycorncartooncat.tumblr.com/)/kittyorange on ao3 for the idea!! Thanks for talking with me so much friend!!
> 
> Done for Snufmin Appreciation Week 2019. Day One: Flowers

Snufkin knew it was probably a bad idea before he did it. He wasn’t really _supposed_ to put spring magic into things in the dead of winter, really. It would require him to push himself a bit to pull it off at all. Winter was when his magic was weakest, after all.

But he only wanted to preserve a few blooms, it’s not like he was trying to make a whole meadow spring out of the ice and snow covered ground. He figured it would be fine.

It’s _not_ fine.

Now, his magic is out of control and he can’t seem to do anything about it. And he doesn’t even know _why._ He's called on his spring magic before in winter and nothing like this has _ever_ happened because of it. Every other time the worst that has happened is a bit of fatigue, _maybe_ a low fever if he pushed himself especially hard. His magic has _never_ done this.

Then again, he supposes he’s never actually tried to influence anything that was _of winter_ before. Every other time, he’s called forth spring flowers and breathed the life of spring into things that winter had put to sleep, which is technically what he is _supposed_ to do. He was just doing it a little earlier than he should.

But this time he had influenced _winter_ flowers. They were never meant to live in spring.

He supposes he should have known better, that he shouldn’t have even _considered_ doing this. But he wanted _so badly_ to show Moomintroll some of the beautiful flowers he never gets to see. And he had only wanted to keep just a few of them, just enough to make him a nice flower crown.

At least the flower crown itself is still going strong, Snufkin thinks. It would be a blow to both have his magic messing up _and_ not be able to do the thing he had apparently messed it up for. At least he’ll still be able to see the smile that will light up Moomintroll’s face when he gives it to him. He can almost see it already. His eyes will light up and and his entire body will perk up in excitement. His voice will take on that special tone it does when he’s absolutely _elated_ about something Snufkin has done and he’ll be able to take solace in the fact that at least he’s done _something_ right. Then they’ll sit on the bridge and he’ll play his new tune and pretend that everything is right in the world. It’ll be _perfect_.

 _Stars,_ he loves him. He just knows that all this trouble he’s going through will be worth it when he sees that smile on Moomintroll’s face. He would do _anything_ to make him smile.

He wishes it wasn’t so _frustrating_ in the meantime. Even if he knows his frustration will melt like the winter snow under the warm spring sun the moment he sees Moomintroll’s smile, it’s still not a nice feeling to experience.

He just hopes his magic calms down before spring rolls around. His magic is at its strongest in spring and if he’s sprouting spring flowers in _winter,_ he doesn’t even want to think about what he might cause in _spring._

There’s also the small issue of the fact that he hasn’t actually told Moomintroll or anyone else that he’s a spring spirit. He has a feeling that a field of flowers suddenly blooming all around his feet just might give him away.

If only he knew what the trigger was. Because there _has_ to be a trigger. He’s not sprouting flowers every second that he walks, after all. Sometimes he’ll go a considerable distance with absolutely _nothing_ happening and then he’ll look again not too long later and suddenly there are flowers _everywhere._

Like right now.

He wants to scream in frustration, so he does. There’s no one around to see him do it so he doesn’t see why he _shouldn’t._

It does make him feel better, but only a little.

He really needs to figure out the trigger. Which he _should_ be able to do. It’s probably a specific thought or feeling he’s having that’s causing it. He just needs to pay more attention.

He starts walking again, carefully keeping his mind blank until he gets to a small clearing that’s devoid of absolutely _all_ flowers. It’s a good place to test some things.

He starts with thinking about the flowers themselves, keeping a careful eye on the ground. Nothing.

That’s fine. He moves on to thinking about his mouth organ and playing music. There’s been several times when he’s been playing and flowers have appeared around him. Nothing again.

Then he thinks about Moominvalley and _just_ Moominvalley. It’s important that he’s specific here. The ground remains bare.

He can feel suspicion and dread rise in the back of his mind. He’s starting to get an inkling of what it might be. He _hopes_ he’s wrong. Being right would cause him _so_ many problems. But he can’t be sure until he tests it.

So, he braces himself and pictures Moomintroll in his mind's eye.

Nothing. He looks all around again just to make sure, being careful not to overlook a single inch. Still nothing.

He lets out a sigh of relief. At least he’ll be able to spend time with Moomintroll without worrying about creating spontaneous meadows. He doesn’t know if his heart would be able to take it if he was forced to stay away from him. He loves him too much.

Snufkin freezes.

There’s a single red tulip innocently sprouting next to his left foot.

Oh.

_Oh._

...Oh no.

* * *

 It turns out that his heart _can’t_ take staying away from Moomintroll. He _tried,_ he really did, but every day he spends away after he was supposed to come back just hurts.

He can’t stop thinking of Moomintroll waiting for him every day only to be disappointed. It breaks his heart.

He misses him _so_ much.

He’s so _close_ to him too. Just half a day’s walk from Moominhouse. It would be easy to go see him and make them both feel better. It would be easy to see his face again and bask in his happiness and love. It would be so _easy._

And yet, it seems like the hardest thing he’s ever tried to do.

There’s still the flowers to worry about. They’ve only gotten worse since winter came to a close and he seriously doubts that the entire hillside suddenly being covered in flowers would be anything even _approaching_ subtle.

What’s worse is that he’s noticed a trend, now that he knows that his feelings for Moomintroll are the trigger.

Not only are the flowers triggered by his feelings for him, they’re also _reflective_ of his feelings for him. Which is bad. Because he hasn’t actually told Moomintroll about his feelings yet. And if he ever wants to see him again he’s going to be forced to tell him about being a spring spirit and why his magic is on the fritz. And Moomintroll is very perceptive when he wants to be so he’ll probably _also_ notice the trend with the flowers which will _undoubtedly_ lead to questions.

Snufkin sighs, he needs to figure out what he’s going to say to him and he needs to do it quickly. He can’t stand to stay away much longer.

“Snufkin!” Oh no. It seems he has less time than he thought. Maybe only about thirty seconds, if Moomintroll keeps up his current pace. “Snufkin! I _knew_ you were coming!”

“Moomintroll!?” he says, being careful to keep the panic he can feel building inside him out of his voice, “Of course I was coming. I made a promise, didn’t I?”

Moomintroll smiles at him and it calms Snufkin a bit. The hug he’s swept up into next calms him more. Maybe it’ll be okay. Maybe Moomintroll _won’t_ freak out. Maybe.

When Moomintroll pulls away and smiles at him again, paws on his shoulders, Snufkin has a hard time deciding what’s better, being pressed against him in a tighter than tight hug, able to hear Moomintroll’s precious heartbeat through the fur of his chest, or being able to see his smile.

But then Moomintroll’s gaze slides away from his to focus on something behind him and Snufkin is suddenly struck with the fear that maybe he won’t ever get a chance to experience _either_ again.

“Hey Snuf,” he starts, sounding justifiably confused, “were those flowers there before?” Then he looks around a bit more, no doubt taking in the way that flowers seem to have staged a coup of the forest floor. It’s really quite a lot, Snufkin thinks around the blankness that’s really taking up _far_ too much room in his head. Just what he can see over Moomintroll’s shoulder could probably make flower crowns for a small army. “Were _all_ these flowers here before?”

“No,” he says, “they weren’t.”

“Really? Do you know where they came from?”

“Yes,” he says, gently removing Moomintroll’s paws from his shoulders. “And it has to do with something I probably should have told you before now.”

“Everyone is entitled to their secrets, Snufkin. You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to,” he says, but he's obviously curious now, “But you know you can tell me anything, right?”

There’s so much understanding and acceptance in Moomintroll’s eyes. Snufkin lets it build his confidence. Maybe he _will_ understand.

“Of course I know that, Moomintroll,” he says, giving him a weak smile. He takes a deep breath and decides to bite the bullet. “I’m a spring spirit. I made the flowers appear.”

Moomintroll gasps. “Really? That’s so cool, Snufkin!” he says, something a little like awe dancing behind his eyes. “I always knew there was something special about you! Because of _course_ there had to be, _you_ were always too special for anything else to be true!”

Oh. Well… that certainly isn’t the reaction he was expecting. He had allowed to hope for grudging acceptance _at best_ and hatred at worst. He had lied to him for their entire friendship after all and he _knows_ that Moomintroll values honesty. It was only right that he be angry.

“Does this mean you can do magic?” he asks excitedly.

“I-Well, I-” he’s stumbling over his words, a warm blush quickly spreading across his cheeks, he needs to get ahold of himself, “Yes, I can do certain types of magic. Spring related magic.”

“That’s so cool!” Moomintroll says, “Is there a reason you made all these flowers appear just now? They’re very nice, of course! But there certainly are an awful lot. And I’ve never noticed anything else like this happening before. Not so suddenly at least.”

“Oh. Well,” he says, a hot flush of embarrassment making him pull his hat down over his eyes, “I did something rather foolish on my travels this year.”

He takes off his hat, just for a moment, so he can remove the flower crown he made. He had placed it there so it wouldn’t be crushed by any of his few belongings in his pack. It still looked just as fresh as it did the day he made it.

Originally, he was going to tell Moomintroll that he had found some late blooms on his way back to the valley, but he supposes he doesn’t have to now.

“I wanted to show you some of the winter flowers you never get to see,” he says, holding out the flower crown, hat back on his head and down over his eyes, “but I knew they would wilt before I could give them to you if I just picked them normally. So I used some of my magic to preserve a few and wove them into a flower crown like the countless others you’ve made for me.”

Moomintroll gently takes the flower crown from his paws. “You made this for me?” he says, voice so soft and awed and _happy_ that Snufkin just _has_ to look up and see the expression that matches the sound.

“I did,” he says, more confident than before, watching the blush spread across Moomintroll’s face. “I was hoping you would wear it.”

“Oh! Of course I’ll wear it, Snufkin. It’s beautiful,” he says, placing the crown on his head. “But… how did making it lead to all these flowers appearing?”

“They’re winter flowers,” he says, trying to ignore the hot, embarrassed flush that’s stealing over his cheeks again, “I thought it would be fine, since I’m a spring spirit and flowers are a pretty big part of spring, but it turns out mixing spring magic and winter flowers has some side effects.”

“Side effects like randomly covering every inch of the ground around you with flower?” Moomintroll teases gently.

“Well,” Snufkin says, squirming a little, “it’s not _exactly_ random.”

“Not random?” he says, raising an eyebrow.

“There might be… a trigger, of sorts.”

“A trigger.”

“Yes. A trigger.”

“And do you know what that trigger is?”

“...I do.”

“Snufkin,” he says after a while of him not continuing.

“Yes?”

“Are you going to tell me what the trigger is?”

“It has to do with some… feelings I have.”

“Feelings?”

“Yes. Feelings. For someone.” It’s almost difficult to get the words out. He’s _so close_ to the truth now. To admitting he has romantic feelings for Moomintroll. It’s a little terrifying.

There’s a pause as Moomintroll looks hard at some of the flowers. Snufkin can practically _see_ the gears turning in his head. He knows that Moomintroll knows about flower language. And between that and the fact that the flowers only appeared after he saw him and _hugged_ him and the blush that’s burning on his face, he’s sure he’ll come to the correct conclusion. There’s not really all that much to put together and the facts are pretty clear, after all.

“And would these _specific_ flowers have anything to do with those feelings,” Moomintroll says after a minute, a blush clinging to his cheeks. There’s an impossible amount of breathless _hope_ in voice. So much Snufkin can feel it stealing the breath from his own lungs

“...Yes,” he says, hoping beyond hope that he isn’t reading too much into Moomintroll’s tone, that maybe he _does_ feel the same way.

Moomintroll’s paw comes up to cup his cheek. It’s soft, just like the rest of him, and Snufkin can’t resist leaning into the touch.

“Snufkin?” he says, quiet with the weight of the moment.

“Yes?” he breathes into the space between them.

“Can I kiss you?”

 _“Yes,”_ he says, high on happiness.

And then he _does._

When they finally make their back to the valley, they do it paw in paw. And the only flowers that follow them are the ones Snufkin _wants_ to sprout.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll probably be answering comments (including the ones on my other fics I've yet to respond to) at the end of the week! I've got a lot more fic writing to do for this event in the meantime.
> 
> Feel free to come scream at me about these lovebirds over on my [tumblr @stingerpicnic](https://stingerpicnic.tumblr.com/)! I promise I'm friendly.


End file.
